Using Chrome OS on my Cr-48: report

I got the Cr-48 the Monday before Christmas 2010, and it was one of the best "presents" I got in 2010. When I first started using it, I was having some issues with my home wireless router, to the point that connecting up to 3G service was giving just about as much performance, so I knew that something was wrong. A little bit of research later, I've resolved the wireless router issues and I can now fairly quickly connect to the router. Having an inexpensive router (I actually have two of them, both Linksys units, the WRT150N and the WRT160N Rev. 3), I can say that both of these routers get the job done. They provide up to four wired connections, so that capability alone makes them worthwhile, and often, I simply use those wired connections. Where I find both models coming up a bit short is that after a few connections, new wireless connections don't appear to be consistent; sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. I find that restarting the router, now that I have some configuration issues resolved, always solves the problem. That is a pretty limiting solution, but an easy enough one.

With those issues resolved, using the Cr-48 at home has become much faster and easier. I can go through Email and forums fairly effectively now with the Cr-48, and I usually do so at least a couple of times a week. I also take the Cr-48 out every now and then and run it from public networks, with 100 MB of free 3G access as a backup. Periodically I check the use of the Cr-48 unplugged from a power source. That is one of a couple of things the Cr-48 does really well:

1. It can almost always go at least eight hours or more on a single charge.

2. It can be used anywhere there is either a 3G network or a Wifi connection available.

3. The keyboard is definitely the best I've used on a netbook class device, and the display is also the best small form factor display I've personally used, quite comparable to my larger and more expensive laptop systems.

Where could the Cr-48 do better? Well, if there was a low power consumption processor that could run a bit faster, that would be nice. The Intel Atom processor, excellent on power consumption, is not really strong on system performance. When I really want to get around fast, this isn't the best platform. It's adequate for some quick browsing and it's great for being on the go, but since I am used to more powerful systems, I find it a bit slow for power usage. That's about the only thing I've seen, other than the network issues traced to other sources that I've encountered from December through April. I'd certainly consider a model like this, or an improved production model (but since I have this one, I will stick with it for a while).

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1 Comments

I did not review Jolicloud or Joli OS in this report, but I have written about Jolicloud in other reports. As a matter of fact, I have My Jolicloud as a Web app running in Chrome, and that's how I usually use it these days - with Google Chrome or Chromium. Joli OS as a system is pretty interesting too. I will write more about that at another time, but you can look elsewhere in my blog to read my impressions of it.

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Most of the blog topics are Linux and open software related, but there may occasionally be entries about Project Management and ...
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Most of the blog topics are Linux and open software related, but there may occasionally be entries about Project Management and other technology subjects.
One interest I have is in describing and categorizing the multitude of Linux distributions and where they can be effectively used.
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